Alex from HowToBeAnAnalyst.com explains how he passed all three of the CFA Program exams, leading to him eventually becoming a CFA Charterholder, and mindsets and specifics for you to do the same.
If you think you nailed level 1 you certainly should start studying for level 2 now. If I started studying after I received level 1 results, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't of had enough time to pass. I started the first week after taking level 1. Many of the people I know that took L2 after receiving a L1 pass in Jan didn't pass. It just isn't enough time unless you really crunch and pump 20 hours a week. Surprisingly, even after studying for as long as I did for L2, things didn't really synthesize until the last week where I was studying 8-10 hours a day for 8 days.
Every time i get burned out or bogged down by studying the curriculum, I always come and and see this video. Thanks for posting this video and being a motivation for all of us.
I recently received my pass result for the CFA level 1 exam. I wanted to thank you for putting up videos like the above one because it most definitely helped me in my preparation. Unlike most things on the web, its solid no bull shit: which helped me focus on what's important and ignore the irrelevant. Thanks again, and please keep the videos coming. Much appreciated.
@@sitemp1 I do not have any degree but I day trade for 2 years. I saw that they only allow someome with a degree or experience in the financial world for years. Am I qualified to take the exams if i study it?
Yeah I think people have a lot of unrealistic expectations of what the CFA Charter will do for them. Will it give you a solid education? Yes. Will it be a magic pill to all of your career ailments? C'mon.
Hey Alex, super helpful video, I appreciate the straight talk. I'm retesting for level-1 this June... was completely humbled after taking (and failing) my first attempt. This exam is no joke! -Phil
Alex, great advice on keeping ones head on straight while studying for the CFA exams. Can you tell me if you took notes while studying the CFA curriculum?
Thanks for this video. I'm 36 mom of two. A bachelor in commerce and have the alphabet soup designation on my CV. I want this not just for the better salary shit but to better my education standing...thanks again
Am a yr older than you, 2 kids (youngest 18 months). Passed Dec'16 L1. You can do it, just focus & cut out a lot of time wasters. Dont be afraid to say NO to people/things cos invariably you are saying YES to CFA; prioritize. Make use of your support structures to help with the kids as its temporary; my mom & sister in-law were invaluable. Decide, commit & prioritise!
Hey... I went to UNC too! Graduated '13. Now I'm in PWM looking to take the CFA. Most of my colleagues are going a different route by taking the CFP. But thanks for the motivation.
Alex, can you please share your studying style. How you learned and how you kept the concepts and material in your mind/how you don't forget what you study. Appreciate your reply.
Thank you so much .. I was so confused which book to follow .. n very limited capital wd me at the moment yo buy anything more that cfa books .. Ur video is really helpfull❤️
Hi Alex, thanks for the video I just signed up for level I for June 2019, full time employee and dad so needing to be as efficient as possible with my time but also want to get the most out of the course as possible. Your comment around 7:55 mentions your key approach, I just want to confirm if you don't mind. You say you read the chapter, then do the questions and answers going back to the content to essentially fill in the gaps in understanding. This approach sounds really efficient to me as the focus is on the most important stuff, particularly what is being tested. I assume you don't recommend summarizing? Do you just read the chapter so as to get through it as quickly as possible and gain the most understanding in the shortest time? Seems like summarizing will take too long and is not worth it. Thanks a lot
What do you mean by summarizing? Like writing down bullet points from the materials? I mean if it works for you then do it. I'm going over a technique that worked for me and I've seen worked for others. My overall point with the video is: shut up and just do the damn practice questions. Lol. People get bogged down in minutae but if you just do the practice questions, this is what is going to set you up for success.
Alex, I am interning this summer and have a light fall semester (No class on MWFs) before graduating in December. I'm sure I can stay self motivated. Do you think this is adequate study time for the December exam? I am referencing where you said "you want to be done with materials by May to start the practice exams"
25Celtics Yes. I was talking about the June exams when I was saying finish all the material with one month to go. If you have two full days during the school week, plus weekends, that gives you four study days per week with 6 months until the test. That should be more than enough time provided that you put it to good use. Keep in mind that people pass these exams while working 80+ hour New York/San Francisco work weeks; if you have a light semester, take it seriously but it should be plenty of time.
Hello Alex, I really appreciate your idea of training rather than making it into a race. I will be starting level 2 (waiting for level 1 results). I have a clear question, although I understand you did not use third-party material. Could you emphasize the fact that it is actually possible to only pass with CFA textbooks? It's so intimidating to see people grab extra material. It would be great if you could revert.
Hello, thank you for knocking some sense to the people who over complicate the CFA program. Anyways, for my question. Do you think an engineering graduate, who got his foot in the financial industry will fair well. Granted, i will be aiming for the December examination.
+Lanxe123456789 If you study hard enough sure. There's a number of people in finance who have engineering backgrounds. Level 1 is really just about bringing everyone to the same level. Sure people who did corporate finance in undergrad will have an easier time since it's remedial for them, but just treat it like you would studying for any other class.
Thank you Alex for sharing your experience with us , I just want to ask you : I am in my final year at my college and I intend to get into CFA Level 1 at Dec , my question to you is what after passing through it ? Is it not allowed to me to get into Level 2 directly , Am I gonna to be in the same point until I can get 4 years of Experience ? and 4 years in which filed ? .
Ibraheem Abouzaid You can sign up for the Level 2 exam after successfully passing the Level 1 exam. You can theoretically pass all the exams before getting the 4 years of necessary work experience, in which case your eligibility for the charter would be pending the work experience and other requisite approvals.
You never stated how you got into PWM and then suddenly decided to switch. I have decided to enter the CFA program and then finance in order to become a securities regulator. Hope I can get in and get out as well--then go on to a career of prosecuting traders who break the law!
ok i was wondering is it possible to go for the CFA right after college? I do understand you need the 4 years of work experience to get the actual CFA designation, but isn't it possible to pass the 3 exams in 18 months before you start working so you would have a lot more time to study?
keyblade134679 As of the time posting this, you can sign up for the Level 1 exam during your senior year. Yes, you do need 4 years of qualifying work experience and the other requisite approvals to become a Charterholder, but you can work your way through the exams during that time. It's common for people during their senior year or right after they graduate to sign up for Level 1, and they usually get the 4 years of work experience at about the same time that they pass Level 3. Source: www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/register/Pages/index.aspx I HIGHLY recommend at least 5-6 months of time blocked out for studying prior to an exam. Some people block out even more than that.
One of the best financial sales guys I know only has a high school diploma and his FINRA licenses. Do the CFA Program to get an education and better yourself. If you have the value, the money will come. If you don't, it doesn't matter how many alphabet soup designations you have on your resume.
As someone who graduated CT state uni in January 2008, my experience/attitude with the exams was somewhat different: Came in the top 10% of those who failed Level I in December that year. (Everyone figured they made that exam much harder. So should have thought of signing up for the June exam.) Passed the Level I in June 2009. Failed the Level II in June 2010, band 7 (top 31-40% of those who failed), and chose not to continue due to a lack of employer interest at the time. Overall you should want to finish reading the material as soon as possible and not really think of how many hours total you will study for it. (Probably was well over 500 hours I spent reading the material for the first attempt on each.) As I ran short of time the first time around, while I was disappointed that the passing attempt on the Level I I felt like I really didn't do that much to study for it. So you probably won't have as much time as you think. Level II was as much a pain as it was a pleasure to study for. Failing the way I did certainly made the decision not to continue easy enough. (Felt my performance was weak on the morning session. Strong on the afternoon session. Will surely vary year to year.) Times sure were different then: youtube was still thought of as a place for low quality videos, there wasn't much of anything going on with "social media" (fb was about as exciting as LinkedIn), and still be quite a long time before I got a "smart" mobile device. Since then, few times thought of going back to it, more down to my career. Two years ago came close and more casually contemplating it right now. To be sure, I have never stopped learning. :)
Finish the material with at least a month before the test, so you can do practice tests and review. It's not about the sheer hours that you put in. It's about the quality of those hours. This is why I'm against counting hours. The point of "300 hours" is just to illustrate to people that it WILL be a big time commitment and not something like the Series 7 that you cram for in a week. It's not that you watch the clock like a weirdo until you hit your hour count, lol. If you do give it a go, I've got another video on Level 2 specifically!
@@AlexCook I was merely conveying how my experience with the exams went. Would say composing my thoughts there might have helped: Those ideas well funneled their way into a phone interview I had a day or two later, combined with other awesome life experience, which I was informed I will be getting the offer to be an investment support specialist role. :) So soon enough I should be taking the SIE, Series 7 and 63. Let's just say I probably should not mention the sheer number of jobs I applied to in the past decade before this success. As lot of folks would think it too tactical and lacking strategy. Even if it helped polish me into giving the excellent interview which got me the job.. which as well can be said I think it's almost assured I would have been successful at whatever I tried to do with that level of effort. Heck, will be a 1900 mile drive to get to my new job. :D PS So it is possible I will take the Level II again a full decade later.
Does anyone have any advice on the order of the material you should follow? Should you follow the standard order that is provided by the CFA institute/schweser or do you find it more helpful to jump around? Any advice is appreciated thanks in advance
I need help I am starting to study for the level 1 ,, could someone tell me what material would you recomend me ? my prep time will be from sep till dec
I attempted my level 1 in December 2014 and didn't pass. It is solely on my lack of time and not studying enough for sure. I was working and just was always too tired to think about studying. I didn't really like the fact that I didn't go through because of my own lack of determination and will. I do want to however try the DEC 2015 one and go at it hard this time. I have a question regarding the work experience part of CFA. Where were you working and how do you show that to the institute to finalize ur CFA designation?
Hi Alex, firstly, congrats on clearing your CFA. I just wanted to know whether you completed all the 3 levels along with your day-job (i.e, 40 hrs/week). Why i ask this is because, i am planning to take up CFA-L1 along with my day job of +40hrs/week. And secondly, how within what duration were you able to start and complete from L1 to L3. Thanks!
while I am studying for the CFA level I exam, can anyone recommend a place to work to get that 48-month experience? I am fresh out of college with an Economics degree
Jake4rmStateFarm How's it going, I got into MBS and real estate valuations got CFA then went into private equity research analyst. I got a finance degree though
Can you take the level 1 CFA exam (june 2016) if you're still a student? I read that you need to have 48 months of relevant working experience to become a chartered analyst. So do you need to have a job in order to take the exam?
+Mx199D As far as I know, you can sign up for Level 1 during the last semester of your senior year. Go to CFA Institute's website for the official rules. Yes you need 4 years of work experience to earn the charter, but you can work through the exams during that time.
I enjoyed your point on supplicating value, this stuff hold true in a lot of life. I'm a regular american dude, but I learned Japanese, and some people interested in learning will kiss my ass, it's so repulsive. Talking to people like their gods gets old fast and is super unnecessary. thinking of doing CFA, maybe CMT.
Hey Alex , ur video is so informative and encouraging , thnx alot . So u mentioned something important abwt getting rid of social network time, im asking about the name of the blogger , u said Mario i guess right? can u show me his channel or videoa plz cuz i waste alot of time in SN. Thnx again
+didiosman4 Mario Tomic. Here is the article specifically that I was referring to: shockingfit.com/managing-your-energy/ His website is oriented more toward physical fitness but a lot of the general principles apply elsewhere. Check it out!
+ritika punjabi I'd say at least 2. The first one is exposing weaknesses to go back to the material and tighten up on. The second one is a confidence builder and final fine-tuning.
I am really interested in the finance domain. I am contemplating getting a CFA to gain a deeper underatanding in this field. I look forward to giving it next june. But the point is it requires a substantial investment. I am from india where a dollar is equal to 64 bucks in our domestic currency (sucks but cant help). I dont wanna do it unless i am entirely sure if i can handle the curriculum. The thing is i am not very good at retaining theorotical stuff (read rot learning) but i am quite good with numbers and their application. Is the curriculum ideally cut out for me? Also i would be pursuing MBA in finance after a couple of years of job experience. Would really appreciate your response since u have already nailed all the three levels. :)
Vaibhav Bhardwaj Ultimately that's a decision you got to make on your own. I would ask the same questions that you'd ask for any kind of continuing education. The way that I look at it, for the cost of less than a semester of grad school at a US university, you could pay for the whole CFA program. It depends though on what your personal goals are and how you want to form your "personal brand."
Hi Alex, what would you recommend doing in my case, where I hold a four year BS in Technical Education degree from Ukraine (obtained 9 years ago) and I am pursuing career of a Financial Analyst. Do you think I would still need to acquire certain degree in the US or trying to go for CFA test and to hope for an internship. Please, help me with an advice, whatever it would be. Thanks
+Oleksandr Chuyko "Financial Analyst" is a hugely broad description. That could mean anything from an investment banker to back-office corporate finance. I would suggest first getting more specific on what your career goals are, and then work backwards as far as figuring out what kinds of educational tools would be helpful to get you to your dream job. I would also suggest bouncing your ideas around on WallStreetOasis, which is a forum for peer to peer advice on career development in finance.
Alex Cook Thank you Alex, My main goal is to become a successful investor. So I thought to work for the company where I could get an appropriate knowledge and experience is the best solution. Being a Research Analyst (Financial Analyst) working let say for some Wealth Management company is my goal. I just want to manage investments in the future as a professional and later on end up doing it on my own for my own and others.
+Oleksandr Chuyko Well, going through the program definitely isn't going to hurt. Nothing of course is guaranteed and there's no magic pill to get you your dream job, but at the least, you will get a high quality education on financial markets.
Hey Alex , is it permissible to give CFA level on exam in last year of college ? Is it possible to complete corpse in 2 years and then opt for work experience?
+Kieran Lafferty If you don't take time to unwind and de-stress, you're not going to perform at 100%. You wouldn't do a 18-20 mile training run the day before a marathon, yet for some reason people think that studying until the night before the test is somehow a good idea.
+Alex Cook (HowToBeAnAnalyst) no i fully agree with you about the unwinding. Just thought that it was particularly funny seeing how often people say they going for one drink and it turns into a big night lol
Hey Alex,congratulations on passing your exams.I understand why you keep saying not to pay attention to passing scores n all. I'm a level 1 candidate and will be appearing for my exams this June and I was wondering if you could help me find a way to manage and retain the knowledge of the entire curriculum To be a little specific, the thing is because CFA institute do not release past exam question papers there is really no info regarding,in how much detail do they test you.Is it that all you need is a good overall knowledge of everything or u really need to know every single or as many possible names and structures,characteristics,etc)For ex-every single IFRS and USGAAP diff(I know this is a important section,at least I guess so).,or terms as Top Heavy,etc Now this may sound stupid or may be cowardly to you I dont know,but there are lots of stuff all over the level 1 curriculum which I know for sure I wont be able to retain(mostly stray terms and comparisons that are getting muddled up),so if you could tell me what kind of approach you used to keep all the knowledge/information in you by not forgetting them every once in a while and also, if then how you taught yourself to pay more focus on certain areas of every subject coz they seemed like more important. I don't know if I could make myself clear,I'm not trying to find a shortcut here,rather a way to get a good grip on the entire syllabus. I would really appreciate any tip you gotta offer. Thanx man. :)
Thanks for commenting. I would suggest that the curriculum itself will weight you in the appropriate direction for the exams. Secondly, not true about CFA Institute not releasing past exams questions. I don't recall for Level 1, but for Level 3, they did release the past three years worth of short essay questions along with sample answers. Additionally, USE THE END OF CHAPTER QUESTIONS in the curriculum! That is a HUGE resource and in my opinion the best prep for the exam that you can do. You are not expected to have CPA/Chartered Accountant level competency with IFRS and USGAAP tiny details about what regulation XYZ123 means. The end of chapter questions will guide in in the right direction. Good luck and keep hustling.
Thanks for your video,it will help a lot for many CFA aspirants. I would like to ask you whether CFA charter would help to break-in to investment banks? I've heard that no Investment bank shows interest in a CFA charter holder as he is over-qualified for their job. How far is it true? I'm pursuing Chartered Accountancy in India and besides this I would like to pursue CFA charter. What does the CFA institute expect from a candidate,how far is it difficult? Where could I get the material at lower cost and I also want to know whether the institute's books are too heavier in volume to study which eats up a lot of time for study rather than practice? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Vankayala Kameswara Sarma "I've heard that no Investment bank shows interest in a CFA charter holder as he is over-qualified for their job" That is flat out not true. What role specifically are you looking for? Research, I-Banking, what? I'd suggest Wall Street Oasis as another resource.
Bilal C i will suggest go for professional, i already have plus, was suggested by professor during MBA and never felt that its inadequate. but professional is better & will save few keystrokes in examination room.
